Assassin
by Bellum Gerere
Summary: I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen/I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing/I'm an Assassin and I had a job to do/Little did I know that girl was an Assassin too... (REWRITE: SEE FIRST CHAPTER FOR DETAILS)
1. Ordinary Night

_I just want to make it clear to everyone reading this: THIS IS A REWRITE. I started the original story several years ago and when I returned to the project, I decided it needed a full revamping so that I could finish it and feel good about it. FFN won't send out update messages when I replace chapters, so I decided to put all the updated chapters in a new story. The original is still up if you're interested in reading it, but I warn you…it's bad. Really bad. Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy!_

**Part One: Crossroads  
Chapter One: Ordinary Night  
Alice Brandon**

"_You get in, you get done and then you get gone  
You never leave a trace or show your face: you get gone"_

_-John Mayer, "Assassin"_

Killingsworth Road was deserted that night, an abnormality for the pathetically small town of Amber Falls, Washington. Usually the place was crawling with people looking to get drunk, as the street housed most of the city's bars, not to mention other various hotbeds of sin. Locals made a killing off of tourists from nearby Seattle and students from Edgeport College, just one town over. And I made a killing off the locals.

Branching off of Killingsworth, in between a nightclub and a shut-down-for-"health-violations" whorehouse was a little strip of concrete known as Murder Alley. The locals named it that, because most of the country's homicides over the last couple years had taken place there. As a result, it had become notorious and was largely avoided, which was convenient for me. Less people messing with my work ultimately results in a lower body count.

On that particular night, the temperature was low, and my legs, bare under a long black coat, were covered in goose bumps. A few more minutes in the biting wind and I wouldn't be able to feel them at all. My breath was a cloud of mist around me, hands—gloved, of course—shoved deep into my pockets, and short dark hair hidden completely under a hat. The thought that I wouldn't leave behind any evidence didn't stop me from biting my lip in anticipation. The moments before were always the worst part. After, I could return to my home in the world's shittiest apartment building and fuck my partner and put the whole thing out of my mind, lock it deep away in the recesses of my subconscious. Before, though, while I stand there and wait, it's impossible not to think about it. Especially taking into consideration tonight's targets: Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley, acquaintances and coworkers of Rosalie Hale.

How ironic, I thought to myself, that someone would put out a contract on people I was so familiar with in high school. Those born in Amber Falls rarely ever leave it, with a few exceptions. I would have been gone years ago had it not been for certain…things. It wasn't at all a surprise, though. The two of them had been your typical douchebag jocks. Right before I dropped out, there had even been rumors going around that they had raped some of the cheerleaders at a party I hadn't attended. I still saw them around town occasionally, and I had no reason to believe anything about them had changed, especially if they were stupid enough to meet me here because they thought they were getting some.

And speaking of getting some…I blinked and there they were, coming into the mouth of the alley, laughing raucously and making crude jokes, likely at my expense. Normally this would have bothered me, but I was amused as well, thinking they would finally get what they deserved. I stepped out to meet them and a nearby streetlight illuminated my face, throwing sapphire eyes and sunken cheeks and ivory sin into sharp relief. They stopped in their tracks, staring at me.

"Ali?" Mike asked in disbelief. I pressed my lips together, trying to suppress a grin. They looked at me for a moment, and then both of them burst out laughing.

"See, this is where you end up when you drop out at sixteen," he sniggered. Tyler, still laughing too hard to speak, nodded in agreement. I allowed a smirk to tease up the side of my mouth. Like they had any clue why I dropped out of high school. Only one other person did, and he'd gone and graduated anyway, to keep up appearances. The last thing we needed was for people to wonder why we dropped out at the same time.

"Yeah, Ali, where's your baby?" Tyler choked out. I gritted my teeth behind the grin. The downside of dropping out by myself was rumors like that. This particular one had been circling for years, but it never failed to make me angry.

"Sorry, boys, no baby here," I replied, trying not to let on how angry I actually was. The plan always relied on them believing I was willing. "But I do have something for you." My hand left my pocket and undid the top button on my coat—carefully, not revealing too much skin, just enough to get them interested. And interested they were. Between the button and my already-bare legs, they were practically salivating.

"This way." I beckoned with a gloved hand to a door into the abandoned building. It used to be locked up tight, but that was easy to fix for someone small enough to crawl through broken windows. About a year ago, realizing it would make our job a lot easier, I broke in and fixed up one of the rooms—which really didn't amount to much more than clean sheets on the bed and a few convenient places to stash weapons, but it was more than enough to suit out needs.

I glanced over my shoulder to see if they were following, and wasn't surprised to see that they were silently arguing over who got to go first. I sighed internally. Nothing about them had changed.

"Boys," I interrupted smoothly, resting one hand on the door frame. "I know it doesn't look it, but trust me, there's plenty to go around." Something lit in their eyes, and I silently thanked whatever deity might be out there that I wouldn't actually have to fuck them. After that, though the followed me up the stairs without complaint.

Now came the hard part—deciding which one of these assholes deserved to die first. Without looking, I reached behind me and grabbed the first hand I encountered. I pulled him into the room and shut the door, then turned to face him. Mike. So be it.

"We can do whatever you want," I informed him in clipped tones, "as long as the coat doesn't come off." He nodded, looking a little disappointed, and pushed me onto the bed.

It always made me nervous when they immediately tried to take control. A thousand questions ran through my mind, mainly "what if I'm not able to get to my weapon and then something really bad happens?" I was strong, but not exactly in an advantageous position. What if I couldn't push him off? It looked like I wasn't going to have to worry about that, though. He was so busy trying to get off his own clothes that he barely paid any attention to me.

I reached under the pillow as he crawled towards me, aiming for the sliver of space between the headboard and the mattress. Hopefully it looked natural, like I wasn't doing anything other than bracing myself for what he surely thought was going to change my life. It was almost in my grasp, if I could just reach a little—there. I had it. Now if he would move a bit closer, enough for me to catch him when he fell…

He dropped onto me, all his weight nearly crushing me, and I tossed the weapon to the side so as not to injure myself in the process of catching him. Shifting his body to someplace Tyler wouldn't see it would be a bit difficult, but nothing I wouldn't be able to hand. Even after so long doing this, some parts of it still surprised me.

Like how it seemed he barely even noticed when I slit his throat.


	2. The Sun Came Up Again

_This is a lot quicker than I usually get chapters up, but I'm hoping to be on a once-a-week schedule. I've got spring break coming up, so that'll help me to get some more writing done and have the ability to update regularly. For now, here's this! I apologize to those who read the previous version of this story because the first few chapters are mostly exposition, but I wanted to expound on a few relationships and make sure new readers got what was going on, since that was one of the big problems with the original draft. Things pick up soon, I promise._

**Part One: Crossroads  
Chapter Two: The Sun Came Up Again  
Alice Brandon**

"_Always take the most unexpected route."_

_-Jennifer Estep, _Widow's Web

Tyler was taken care of in much the same way, just a scant few minutes later. The routine had grown old over the years, but it never lost its excitement. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, in time with the anxiety burning through my brain. The sun was going to rise soon, and I needed to be out of here before it did. I knew for a fact that the police searched this area every morning, albeit not very well. I had a contact who was closely associated with the force, and though she didn't know why, she did a very good job of keeping my tracks covered.

With the bodies safely hidden (for now) in a nearby dumpster, I began the five-block trek back to where I'd parked my car, at the house of another contact in a nice neighborhood. If I timed it right, anyone who saw me driving would assume I was heading to work or meeting a friend for breakfast. They didn't need to know that I was hiding the silver Volvo in a barely-occupied parking garage next to the run-down apartment complex that had the pleasure of being my base of operations. Few people had my address, and even fewer my phone number—only those who would be able to give me enough advance warning to get out of town if something did happen. I was difficult to find, and I preferred to keep it that way.

I drove slowly, keeping to the speed limit. One of the worst parts of killing was the accompanying paranoia over things like speeding tickets. If one of the cops happened to connect me with a sighting at Murder Alley, I was fucked. For this reason, I parked the car close to the door that led onto the fourth floor of mostly-deserted Amber Garden Apartments. Despite the trying-too-hard name, it was practically falling apart, with only three or four other apartments occupied over a span of seven floors, so it was unlikely anyone would ever see me coming home.

Trying not to wake up my partner, I closed the apartment door behind me and redid the locks, internally sighing in relief that I hadn't been followed. The hovel I called home consisted of a living room, kitchen, and a short hallway branching off to two bedrooms and a bathroom. We technically didn't need another bedroom, though I often retreated to it the day after, but we had no choice but to buy it, as it was all this particular building offered. Sometimes it was convenient, though. I frequently got upset after a difficult job, and would sequester myself for days.

I stepped into the tiny bathroom, practically having to stand in the shower to shut the door. Hanging on the back of it, on a hook, was a black dress, long-sleeved with a daisy-print skirt. I frowned. He almost never picked out clothes for me, not since I expressed my…intense dislike for it. If he felt like he could even suggest something, we must've been doing something important that day. I wondered idly what it was as I stripped down. It was unusual for him not to tell me.

Usually, when I got home, I avoided looking in the mirror, too afraid of seeing what I'd become. Today, though, I couldn't tear my eyes away from myself. Short and thin, bottom ribs and hipbones protruding from pale skin. Dark hair, dark circles under my eyes. Unassuming. Suddenly I couldn't get away from myself fast enough. I stepped into the shower and turned the water on, letting it scald my skin and relax my muscles. If only it could clean my mind.

When I stepped out, I ran headfirst into something—no, someone. A tall someone with bronze hair, skin as pale as mine, and amused green eyes. My partner in crime, quite literally.

"Edward," I said, grinning. I could feel his eyes roving my body hungrily, although he wouldn't dare try anything the morning after. It was clear to both of us that I was the one in charge.

"Alice." The corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement. He was always oddly formal, even when I was standing in front of him completely naked. "Get all the blood off?"

"Physically." I groaned. "He called me Ali."

The smirk faded into a look of unbridled rage. "Did they really think they have the right to do that? God, if they weren't already dead, I would kill them." He pushed a hand through his hair, staring at the ground. "Fuck."

Hey, I'm alright." I ducked under him so that our faces were barely inches apart. "I promise. They won't say it again." A strangled laugh escaped his lips and then he was kissing me frantically. I wasn't fooled, I knew he was just trying to get his mind off of things. We'd never been close in any romantic way, and we never would be. It was unlikely I'd ever fall in love with anyone. But that wasn't to say we didn't enjoy a good fuck every now and then.

I leaned away and reached for the towel I'd left on the counter, rubbing it over my chin-length hair. "Why don't you tell me what that's all about?" I pointed at the dress.

"Oh. That." Which was exactly the kind of response I'd been dreading. "It's nothing, really. I thought maybe we could go out today, and you could wear—"

"Stop with the bullshit. I'm not buying it." I leveled a glare at him. "Why did you think you could do something I hate and get away with it? What is so horrifying that you felt like you had to lie to me about it?"

He knew there was no way out of this one, I could tell. "Look, you're going to hate me for this, but…Rose invited us to lunch."

I blinked a few times, sure I'd misheard him. He paused for a second. "And I already told her we would come."

Of course he did. When it came to certain people, he had an inability to say no. I was not one of those people.

"Why would you do that? Do you really hate me that much?" Behind the anger, I was sure he could hear the slightest bit of teasing. It was hard for me to stay mad at him. How could I, when he'd abandoned all his plans for the future to help me survive?

He grinned. "For your information, I thought it would help you get closure. You never have to see her again if you don't want to." I leaned against the wall, pressing my lips together. No matter how you put it, he was right. Maybe it would help me to stop obsessing over everything that happened right before I dropped out.

"Fine. But I hope you know that I don't like this at all."

"I know. But it'll be good for you." He turned to leave, then stopped. "By the way…you missed a spot."

"What?" I twisted around to look at myself in the mirror and there it was: a small spot of rusted red, just below my collarbone.

"Fuck."


	3. Love Song For No One

_Two chapters in a row! It's highly unlikely that this will ever happen again, but I had it done, so I thought, why not?_

**Part One: Crossroads  
Chapter Three: Love Song For No One  
Jasper Hale**

"_Searching all my days just to find you  
I'm not sure who I'm looking for  
I'll know it when I see you"_

_-John Mayer_

Rosalie was in a mood today. I could tell because every time I tried to ask her where we were going, she grunted and turned the radio up a little bit louder. Normally she was overly talkative on car rides, like she was allergic to silence. Today, though, she'd barely made a sound as she picked up me and all my worldly belongings from Edgeport College, shoved us in her BMW, and drove away. It was a forty-five minute trip back to Amber Falls, and we'd spent over half of it in this game of back-and-forth annoyance.

I hadn't tried pushing her too hard, though. My brain was too fried to care. I'd just gotten out of my last exam, and had only one semester left until I graduated with a bachelor's in history. It had always fascinated me, especially the Civil War, since my mother's family had been from Texas and she was also a historian. I would have been graduating in a few days if I hadn't fucked up so badly first semester of my freshman year. I spent too much time partying, failed all my classes but one, and was subsequently put on academic probation. Obviously I'd cleaned up my act a bit, but the memories still itched in the back of my mind, and I doubted they'd ever go away.

It was funny how Rose, nineteen and just finishing up her freshman year at Puget Sound, had become the caretaker in the family after my mother died. Everyone thought that my father would finally be a parent for once, but no, Peter Hale was too busy kissing other people's babies as mayor of Amber Falls to worry about his own. So Rosalie, not even sixteen at the time, had stepped up. She was the one who drove to the hospital at three in the morning when I had alcohol poisoning. She'd somehow gotten our father to attend meetings with my academic advisors when I was on the brink of expulsion. When mom died, she sat up with me for hours while I sobbed, thinking it was somehow all my fault.

Nowadays, though, I could barely even get her to talk to me, which seemed to me the ultimate irony. Here I was, twenty-two and still expecting her to be the mature one, and she was giving me the silent treatment. I suppose I couldn't expect that much of her, though. She was, after all, only nineteen.

"Rose." No response. "Rosalie." Still nothing. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. She could be impossible on days like this. "Rosie."

She only took her eyes off the road for a split second to throw a glare my way. "You know I hate being called that."

"Well, it got you to talk to me, didn't it?"

"Fuck." She brushed a lock of hair in front of her face, but I caught a glimpse of a smile. We never could stay mad at each other for long.

"So where are we going?"

Just like that, the smile was gone, and she refused to take her eyes off the road. "I don't want to talk about."

"Come on." She didn't make a sound. "Rose, please?"

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Alright, I'll tell you, but you're probably not going to like it."

Well, that was certainly reassuring. "You know I won't get mad at you. You can tell me."

"Okay." She took a deep breath, and in the seconds in between I wondered what could possibly be horrible enough that she thought she couldn't tell me. "We're going to meet some people I knew from high school. For lunch."

The admission stunned me into silence. I knew that after she turned sixteen, high school became a living hell for her, though I couldn't possibly imagine why. She was pretty and popular, All-American cheerleader-squad perfection. She had so many friends I couldn't count them, and every time I visited home at least one of them was hanging around. The only thing I could think of bad enough to ruin high school for her, besides our mother's death, which had already happened, was a bad boyfriend. Or friend. Or both.

"Are they the people who ruined your life?" I asked, not bothering at all with caution. She probably knew what I was thinking anyway.

"No. Besides, if they ruined my life, why would I go to see them?" Admittedly, she had a point. Common sense had never been my strong suit, as exemplified by my repetitive drinking binges freshman year, which had eventually landed me in the hospital. Rose had always been the one with all the common sense, even if it turned out later I was smarter than I looked.

"Right. So where are we going, exactly?"

"Here." I was so distracted by her sudden mood swings that I didn't even notice we'd pulled into the parking lot of a local Italian restaurant. She stopped the car, reaching into the backseat to grab her purse, and I noticed she was wearing a dress under her coat. "Am I underdressed?" I asked, looking down at my ratty t-shirt and jeans. Hey, in my defense, no one really cares about…well, anything during finals week.

She laughed, and I was glad to hear a break in the tension. "No, I think I'm overdressed. I don't know, I just…my life has been so much better since I left, and I want everyone to know." She shrugged. "Yeah, I realize it's stupid." But it wasn't. She's spent the entire year away from Amber Falls, even winter and spring breaks, and she was better off for it. She even looked better—happier, and she didn't need a dress to make it obvious.

We walked inside, and I stood by the door awkwardly while Rose gave them our name. I wondered who we were meeting, and why she was even bothering with this, three years too late. As the hostess led us to our booth, I looked around, trying to see if anyone I recognized as a friend of Rose's was here. Not like I could actually recognize any of her friends.

She noticed me looking around. "You won't know them. Everything happened before I decided to be miserable." The side of her mouth quirked up, but I could tell she was still sad as we slid into the booth. "Any minute, though."

So we sat in silence, waiting for them, for a full twenty minutes before the bell on the door sounded. "Just like her to be late," Rose muttered, turning around. I strained to see over my shoulder, but I was on the wrong side to even try looking at the door, so I stared at the empty bench awkwardly.

"Sorry we're late," a smooth alto voice crooned. "Traffic was killer."

I turned to the side. Standing next to Rose, almost as if she'd materialized out of thin air, was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and she was staring straight at me.

"Hi," she said, voice dripping sex appeal, hand extended. "I'm Alice."


End file.
